The Guardian

Holocaust historians divided over Warsaw ghetto museum

Director hits back at critics who say the institution, backed by Poland’s populist party, will distort wartime history
Children in the street in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland, 1941. Photograph: Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty

The museum of the Warsaw ghetto is not due to open for several years, but is already shaping up to be one of the most contentious museums in Europe.

Backed by Poland’s populist government, which has been accused of rewriting history to fit its political agenda, the museum has caused a bitter spat between historians of the Holocaust about how best to tell the tragic story of Warsaw’s Jews.

On one side is the museum’s Israeli chief historian, Daniel Blatman, who teaches Holocaust studies at the University of Jerusalem, and promises that the exhibits will provide an accurate and thought-provoking look at the formation and liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto, and of the Holocaust in Poland more generally.

On the other side are numerous Polish and Israeli Holocaust scholars who say Blatman is at best

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